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Ruminations on Retail: Why We Launched BrightStreet Ventures

(Guest Column: Western Real Estate Business - July 2014)

Consider the plight of the retailer: the rise of Amazon has attacked the margins that local retailers count on for survival.

As a result, numerous segments, including video stores, music stores, computer stores, bookstores, electronics and office supplies are either dead or dying. Sadly, this is a trend that is permanent and accelerating.

Meanwhile, the ascendance of the smartphone, led by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android is changing everything.

There are about five billion devices creating universal experiences that are social, real time, data smart, perpetual, personal and just-in-time capable via millions of mobile apps.

This emerging reality gets to a universal truth of our time; namely, that software is ‘eating the world,’ and in the process, reshaping virtually all industries.

It’s given rise to Uber, Amazon, Airbnb, Google, iTunes, Facebook, Maps, and Yelp, but can there be any doubt that retail, media, marketing, manufacturing, transportation and telecom are being forever changed in the process as well?

In retail, for example, mobile has given the consumer the power of all knowledge at their fingertips. With this power, he or she can discern fair price or pursue a better deal – often online – in very few clicks.

It’s also empowered consumers to act as social amplifiers of reputation and experience. An extra half-star rating on Yelp can cause restaurants to have a full house 19% more frequently.

Critically, though, mobile plays a game-changing role in what is known as omni-channel. In the world of omni-channel, the consumer’s frame of reference encompasses online, bricks-and-mortar and mobile possibilities.

When done right, omni-channel can yield a 6X sales lift from the customers that engage with the merchant on all channels, including online, via mobile and in store. Such has been the experience of Walgreens.

Similarly, the rise of big data and data science is changing the means of analyzing, targeting and customizing the field of play that exists between retailers, consumers and shopping center owners.

Mobile has also disrupted the traditional ways that merchants acquired and connected with customers.

The customer acquisition tool kit used to consist of yellow pages, direct mail and newspaper ads. While your eyes can tell you that these marketing segments are decidedly unhealthy, there’s an even more obvious barometer: ask yourself if your children have ANY connection to yellow pages, paper mail, or print newspapers?

This is the new reality for retail. Mobile, when combined with data and the cloud, completely changes the game.

The simple truth is that we are working backwards from the consumer, what they expect and what is possible in this new era. We are also looking at the challenges that retailers face, and our role as owners and operators of shopping centers in fostering their success. That’s the defensive side of the equation.

In terms of offense, we believe the convergence of bricks and clicks represents one of the great opportunities of the next decade.

That is why every venture that emerges from our model needs to make sense as business offering enduring value.

We also believe that by sharing what we learn with our peers, a rising tide will lift all boats, which is very much in our interest.

That’s the backstory on why we created BrightStreet Ventures. The larger market has validated where we’re headed with mobile marketing innovation and real estate business intelligence (our company portal, powered by our Datex Property Solutions affiliate, garnered an ICSC MAXI nomination).

We had the opportunity to unveil this vision, and formally launch our new venture at ICSC RECON in Las Vegas, and the response was incredibly encouraging.

Mark Sigal is the Managing Director of BrightStreet Ventures in Woodland Hills, California.